Dawn explosion stuns Pasil; cops find firecracker bundles

A loud explosion shattered the peaceful sleep of residents along Magallanes Street, near Forbes Bridge, in barangay Pasil yesterday dawn.

Everybody thought is was a bomb but responding policemen found it to be two bundles of firecrackers, each bound together apparently to create an explosion bigger than the usual.

One of these bunched up firecrackers was thrown near the door of the house of a certain Brix Lim. It exploded but no one was reported hurt. The other one, however, did not go off, the police said.

Members of the Mobile Patrol Group and the Special Weapons and Tactics retrieved the unexploded firecracker bundle, which was still wrapped with a plastic bag. They said that an unidentified man threw the two bundles.

City Police director, Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, said the explosion should not be a cause for alarm for the residents in the area because the composition of each bundle was not as volatile as that of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

Terrorists commonly use IEDs, which are usually composed of high-grade volative materials and sophisticated electronic timing devices to initiate initial explosion and detonate the main charges.

Lim, in an interview with TV Patrol-Central Visayas, suspected that someone who might have a grudge against him could have perpetrated the explosion to scare him.

He mentioned that he earlier filed a complaint at the City Hall against a company, engaged in human waste collection, for allegedly disposing the waste at a creek near his residence.

Meanwhile, the police in the area said they have been on alert since Tuesday night when a suspected street toughie, known as Jeffrey Lausa, reportedly fired his gun indiscriminately, scaring the residents.

Last week, Lausa was allegedly seen brandishing a grenade in the neighborhood then, last Wednesday, he reportedly came back and threatened the people there that he would soon throw the grenade at them.

Last night, the police went to a road culvert, the reported hiding place of Lausa. They threw a tear gas into it supposedly to force him to go out and surrender. They failed because Lausa was not there after all. — Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE